Carolyn Hax: It's OK to let kids be well-adjusted and average

2:46 PM,
Sep. 6, 2013

Written by

Dear Carolyn: I live in a Washington, D.C., suburb where the school environment is highly competitive. More than 20% of the class gets straight A's, and many students are accomplished in their sport, music or other extracurriculars.

My children are not quite straight-A students (mostly A's, couple of B's), and good at their respective extracurriculars, but not among the best, either. I dislike attending award ceremonies or other events like it where everyone else's children are winning the awards and mine are getting "participation awards." ...